So for most of you guys modding I’m pretty sure you guys fall into the problem with having too many wires tangled up inside and all this messiness from the quick disconnects from your buttons or the ribbons coming off your PCB and what not. I was wondering how do you usually go about doing wire management within your arcade stick?
Zip ties? Shorter Wires? Tubing?
Yes to all of the above
Zip ties and Zip Tie anchors are great to have
I would not say shorter wires, I would rather like to use the term per-messured. its when you have a mix of long and short wires going to the same area that it looks a mess. Its better to go slightly longer than you need, than trim to fit your work
Tubing
Tech Flex tubing is a favorite around here to dress up your wiring, heat shink is also worth considering, specialy since heat shrink is offten used to close up ends of the tech flex.
Electric Tape
Not always a good idea, but done right, some well positioned tape all that stands between a organized wire job and a rats nest.
It is also useful if you forgot to use heat shrink tubing down and need something to organize wires or close up separating ends of tech flex or for insulation
Terminal strips
In case you need to splice wires and want a solder-less solution
Techflex is awesome. Although I suck at using it because I don’t have a hot knife. Stuff gets all frayed up and I mess it up. 
Measuring per-wire is time consuming, but makes for cleaner setups. Solder/terminate one end, run the wire to the destination, cut about an inch or so ahead of the destination, crimp/terminate/solder the end. Lather rinse repeat.
I’ve been known to spend hours just looking at the chassis inside of sticks imagining how to lay out the wiring…and not do anything hahah
Yeah I’m planning on getting a madcatz TE and I’ve seen the inside of one and I’m just wondering how to go about managing it. Because I plan to put a Sparky PWM with Uila LEDs in there
What kind of Techflex is in your pic? Can I get a close up shot of the QDC’s
Patience is a must. I need to work on mine.
You forgot to mention crazy glue
I use 1/4 inch tech flex…
Qd’s I usually use .110 but I have gone and used anything available… .187 is usable as well…
I gotta say, I love the whole “wiring QDs backwards so you can discreetly run the wire back into the braided sleeve” trick.
So you crimp UP into the disconnects, not down into… interesting. Then it looks like you just feed the wrapped wires in-between the button connectors using them as a guide path. I’m also guessing you pre-measure the wires (would be interested in how you do that); but are you able to just feed the wire through the techflex or do you have to make an incision at each opening? Is that just standard heatshrink at the end of the wrapped wires?
There is not crimping Quick Disconnect.
It is just solder.
Oh, I see… it’s a bit hard to see from the picture, but now that I know what to look for, it seems that it’s just a solder joint at the tip. Brilliant. With all the connecting wires the same color, I imagine you’d have to thread these wires one at a time through the wrap for measuring purposes?
Yeah I want to know how you guys are getting such clean wiring with just a couple techflex tubes
It really isn’t hard tbh, you can choose to crimp it too
I crimp it as well as solder as it helps
As for the threading, I tend to do the farthest buttons away first
Wire gauge is also important because the higher the gauge, the more wires you can fit in each techflex tube
also when cutting the techflex tube, you don’t need the hot knife, i just use scissors and then just take a lighter and melt the ends so they don’t fray
Can someone explain how techflex works with wiring? Most of these photos just appear like the tube is just going through the button pins. Are the wires produding out of the tube? And is that white wire supposed to be the common ground for everything?
Someone should make a tutorial x.x
Tutorials don’t exist because its a well-kept secret which we will share every now and then. The white wire in my VX is the common ground. Yes, the wires do come out of the tube. It is threaded into the tube and taken out in the other side.
X.x i was hoping for some insight into all of this
With like a madcatz TE, where each button has its own ground wire. Is it possible to have one wire be the common ground on a TE?
I was joking about well kept secret
Just ask any question and i’ll try to answer to the best of my ability
and the answer is yes, you can use that 1 ground only